New measures put in place by the government to tackle pandemic covid-19 sound extreme. They are. Living with a public health doctor for a husband, I was set to expect them tonight. 14 days isolation for the WHOLE household if anyone has a new cough or fever >37.8. Everyone to avoid ALL social gatherings –… Read More Church in the time of Covid-19

This is my friend and her beautiful girls. The baby girl in this photo was 3 weeks old when we left Swaziland in mid-July. On Saturday afternoon, aged 3 months, she died. Sitting here, thousands of miles away from my friend, I am powerless to comfort her. I received the news this morning. I am… Read More Beat His Chest

If you know me at all, you’ll know I’m terrified of snakes. In a serious way. I can’t even talk about them without feeling my skin crawl, shuddering and hyperventilating. So when it became apparent that God was calling us to live for at least a year in a country that is infamous for being… Read More And then I saw a snake

Unsurprisingly, there isn’t really a foodie culture in a country that the World Food Programme deems as suffering from ‘chronic food insecurity’. Like a lot of Sub-Saharan Africa, the staple crop (when rains allow) is maize. It is usually boiled with water and cooked into ‘pap’, a filling, but essentially nutritionally valueless meal. Beans and… Read More Mielies and Mangoes

The sun beats down hard on the red lowveldt soil. It’s only mid-morning in October but the high sunlight bouncing off my baby’s white skin makes me wince as I cover most of him and sling him onto my back. Up there, he’s almost out of reach of 30 pairs of curious hands… but just… Read More Pagama Bomage

Hey everyone, we now have internet!! Here’s a copy of a newsletter I sent out at the end of October – apologies if you didn’t receive it, using the internet has been difficult until now. This version is edited to remove politically sensitive material. Thank you so much to all who have been in touch.… Read More October Impressions

Sawubona from Siteki! We made it! The long haul overnight was fine – some even slept. Next a transfer through Jo’burg airport with tired kids, too many rucksacks and irritation at yet another airport security check led to mango sorbet for breakfast to cheer everyone up. Then it was time to head onwards to Manzini… Read More Soft Landing 

The countdown is on… 2 more sleeps! We fly on Thursday – first to Frankfurt, on to Jo’burg and then to Swaziland. This time next week, we’ll have had four nights under Swazi skies…  It turns out life is pretty crazy when you’re moving a family to Africa in 3 days time.  We thought moving… Read More Sugar highs and sad goodbyes

I’m on a plane !  And it’s the first time I’ve had 5 minutes peace in a long time…. peace from endless to do lists, errands, packing, repacking, moving, packing. Children are occupied with kindles,  a peace which comes completely free of parental guilt at 30-something thousand feet… baby cooing  happily. We’ll see how long… Read More Plane Post